I have been remodeling most of my house, and whenever I am rolling on interior paint I always get bits of roller in the paint. It is rididulously frustrating to see a dry wall with little fibers sticking out of it. I have switched to a nicer roller since, but it leaves a different texture (if you look at it closely). Any suggestions for the best roller out there to use??? And is the more efficient way to cleaning it other than hot water and 15 minutes??
Paul
Buy the best roller covers, the ones with the cores that look like phenolic (plastic). You want to treat a good roller cover like a good brush. Store the wet roller in a large zip lock freezer bag between coats, clean it meticulously after each use, spin the roller clean and let it dry. When you think it's clean, clean it again. A five-in-one painter's tool makes cleaning a roller cover go much faster. The pump-action spinner (don't get excited Don - it's not a shotgun) is also a must.
Unlike a brush, a roller cover must be cleaned before use. Wash it well and scrape off any loose fibers - they're what make the first couple of coats look like hell. No one likes furry walls. I trim the ends cover and cut off the fibers at a 45 degree angle with a scissors to take off the excess fiber - that's what causes most of the "rope" (paint buildup along the outer edges of the roller's path).
R
Vacuum it first.
[...]Just throw it away.
Tried out Floetrol additive on a recent large paint project, and the improvement in finish on the (ahem) low cost latex was very surprising. Most paint departments will have quarts or gallons of it in stock. With a good roller with the proper nap and Floetrol you ought to get a nice smooth result. Sometimes going to a lower gloss, like eggshell intead of semi-gloss will be more pleasing. HTH
Joe
Rico's & Joe's suggestions are great. The only thing I would add is.......
I "de-fuzz" the roller covers running them over some making tape.
cheers Bob
I picked up a gadget a couple of years ago that works really good. Its shaped like a large donut and screws on a garden hose. The roller cover tightly passes through the center hole while center pin holes force water deep into the knap of the roller. A couple of passes and the roller is very clean. One of those "now why didn't I think of that" items.
Bob
Use a woven roller, not a knit one. Also make sure it has beveled edges. Purdy White Dove is a good quality roller.
Do not clean rollers. Simply roll them up in plastic wrap and throw them away. If you intend to use it over a period of a few days, then roll it up well in plastic wrap and leave it in the refrigerator over night. Some people skimp on rollers, and then to add to that go to the trouble of cleaning them. If you think about this in the grand scheme of things, this is a waste of time. 15 minutes of your time is ridiculous for a $3 roller (Purdy), let alone the cheap one you're using now. It's better for the environment to throw them away without cleaning too.
I picked one of those up from the free box at a garage sale. Now I know what it is.
Bob
Again, none of this is necessary with a quality roller such as Purdy White Dove.
If a smooth finish is what you want, go with Sherwin Williams Cashmere. There may be others that do the same thing, I don't know.
I never clean roller covers.
Just finished painting my 3,200 sqft house with a manual roller. Took me two weeks, part time, including preparation. I used one roller frame and cover. When stopping work for any length of time, or overnite, I soaked the roller in paint and wrapped the roller and frame tightly in a grocery type plastic bag.
This keeps the roller wet and workable for at least 3 days. After I finished painting the house, I threw away the roller cover. No cleanup.
I start cleaning rollers in the laundry tub. Run the water and roll the roller back and forth in it till a goodly portion of the paint is gone. Then I screw it onto a 6 foot extension handle and take it out onto the lawn. I used a hose nozzle adjusted to a powerful blast to wash and spin the roller. At first, I hit the roller fairly directly so it spins slowly, sweeping the water back and forth across the roller. Tip the roller so it doesn't spray you. As it gets cleaner, move the water spray to hit the roller on the edge so it spins very fast. When it's all clean, spin it very fast and remove the water quickly so it spins dry.
I never have problems with rollers I clean this way.
Bob
Vacuum cleaner or a spinner for the fuzz. As everyone else said, buying a decent roller cover prevents shedding and always use the minimal necessary nap thickness for your surface.
I clean rollers not to save money, but to make sure I have one around next time I need it. The best trick I know of for rollers is to scrape the majority of the paint back into the can with a stir stick or 5 in 1 tool and fill a bucket with water. Fill with bucket with water and submerge the roller in it. Shake it around under water, dump the bucket, and refill it. It usually takes me around 4 fills to get it completely clean. You know you're done when the water stays clear. If you do it this way, the roller will dry soft and with no stiff paint residue.
"Walter R." wrote in news:iWCXg.5958$ snipped-for-privacy@tornado.socal.rr.com:
Plastic wrap or produce bag works better. Can last for weeks or months in frig if fully covered. Two good size grocery bags (one from each end) are good for covering the entire tray. I've tossed that in the frig as well.
That's not better for the environment. You're disposing of something that doesn't need to be disposed of after only a couple or three coats, and tossing the cover into an incinerator or landfill isn't exactly green. Since everyone agrees to wrap the roller and brushes between coats, and to stick them in the refrigerator for longer periods of time, cleaning a roller cover isn't necessarily an everyday chore. If I'm using three different paints, I have three roller covers that are kept wet, wrapped and ready to go. I use a brush to cut in (of course). When I'm cleaning the brush, I clean the roller cover. It doesn't take 15 minutes, it takes maybe three or four minutes to clean a cover. When I'm done I have a roller cover that is in better shape than when it was new - it's broken in. I'll try the Purdy White Dove cover you recommend _ it sounds like a good product. Don't get mad at me if I re-use it repeatedly. ;)
R
The Purdy White Doves are the ones we use for "good work'
about the whole green thing.........
IMO the optimum is avoid cleaning day to day by wraping & frig'ing (or storing in the can, yuk!) ollers between coats
clean roller covers when "finished" painting
AND when the roller is "used up" let it dry out first before trashing.....wet paint in the trash stream can contaminate the ground water.
the green way to claen up water base paints is right down the drain w/ soap & water....goes to the treeament plant, the practice of dumping wash water or sovlent into the soil is a No-No.
Solvent based paints.......minimize solvent use.....SAVE used solvent in a covered container, after a few weeks the solids will settle out & you can use it for first & second rinse
Recycling solvent this way saves a LOT of solvent
& at $14 a gallon it makes $ & sense.Topic for another thread....solvent free oil base paint
cheers Bob
???
What do you think HAPPENS to the paint-infused roller when you "throw it away"?
Aspasia
It goes into a landfill, instead of contaminating the water.
I find that simply storing a roller in a tightly closed ziploc bag with air mostly squeezed out, take care of storing it between coats.
i
And what do you think the toxic stuff in the landfill does? Just sit there? Or leach into ground water? Those plastic liners are good for exactly zilch in the long haul.
Furthermore, in most cases, landfills either devour areas near to municipalities, which is not exactly the "highest and best use". (Beautiful canyons near my city filled up with trash!) Or they have to be trucked far away, at great cost, not to mention the fuel consumed in those long trips.
Better to do as some have suggested -- and which happens to be my own practice -- wrap them tightly in plastic so they can be used again on the same job.
When it comes time to dispose of rollers,take them to a toxic substances disposal site, which many municipalities now maintain. If yours doesn't have one,take charge and see that they start one.
Aspasia
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.